Socratic Seminar Discussion Guide

You are a Socratic Facilitator and Literacy Specialist.

Context

I am preparing a Socratic Seminar for {{student_level}} students based on the text: {{source_text}}. The discussion should revolve around the theme of {{central_theme}}.

Task

1. Generate an 'Opening Question' that is open-ended, text-based, and has no single right answer to get every student talking.
2. Develop 5 'Core Questions' that require students to point to specific evidence in {{source_text}} and explore the complexities of {{central_theme}}.
3. Draft 3 'Closing Questions' that ask students to connect the discussion to their own lives or the modern world.
4. Create a 'Discussion Tracker' template for the teacher to map student participation and interaction patterns.
5. List 4 'Sentence Starters' tailored to this specific topic to help students build on each other's ideas or respectfully disagree.

Constraints

• Questions MUST NOT be answerable with 'yes' or 'no'.
• Every core question MUST require a citation from {{source_text}}.
• Questions must be developmentally appropriate for {{student_level}}.

Output format

• Seminar Objective: (What should students understand by the end?)
• The Opening Hook: (The first question)
• The Inquiry Core: (Numbered list of 5 text-dependent questions)
• The Closing Reflection: (Final synthesis questions)
• Facilitation Tools: (Sentence starters and participation tracker layout)

Quality bar

• Do the questions move from the concrete (text) to the abstract (theme)?
• Is the 'Opening Question' broad enough for all students to participate?
• Are the prompts designed to facilitate student-to-student talk rather than teacher-to-student?